An Edun Farms employee was shot dead last evening during a robbery in which the perpetrators escaped with $750,000 in cash, leaving a second man battling for his life at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Aga Khan, 57, of Lot 20 Grove Public Road, East Bank Demerara, was pronounced dead at the Diamond Diagnostic Hospital while his colleague, a porter, 22-year-old Morvin Marcus, of Lot 714 Kaneville, Grove, E.B.D., was transferred to the GPH.
Stabroek News was told that Khan, who was at the time driving a Canter truck, was shot to the neck and died instantly while Marcus was shot to the right shoulder leaving the bullet lodged in his chest. A third man, who was sitting between the two men in the vehicle, escaped unharmed.
At the Diamond Hospital, a taxi driver, who preferred to be unnamed, told this newspaper that he witnessed the shooting as he was driving behind the truck. “I see three men at the driver’s side while the other one at the passenger side and they jump where the driver driving and I see the truck come off the road and start swerve so I say something not right here,” the man said, adding that he suspected it was a robbery and decided to stop his vehicle to observe what was happening.
He said that he heard a sound but not very loud as though it was that of a muffled gunshot but immediately after, he noticed the men escaping on foot.
“I see a lil scramble by the driver side and then they leave and run. I speed with the car and see them run through a cross street in Busby Dam and I stop there and went back to the truck,” he recalled.
The taxi driver told Stabroek News that the unharmed porter indicated to him that only one man was shot and injured but it was only after he left and returned that he became aware that the driver of the vehicle was also shot and killed. “The porter was so traumatized he only keep saying he got to go to his boss, he got to go to his boss so I take him and when I come back then they say the driver get shoot too… I did not see the driver, maybe he was slumped in the truck,” he stated. The man added that men’s employer arrived on the scene and had them transported to the Diamond hospital.
The dead man’s brother, Shariff Khan, said according to the reports he has received, the attack was launched by four men as his brother slowed down to make a turn into Busby Dam at Craig, E.B.D.
“It been about 6 o’ clock, as soon as he turn in to the entrance like these guys been waiting.
One of them try to get in the way of the truck so the truck could stop and the truck slow up and they sling on to the truck door and like he try to drive away and one of them shoot he straight through his neck and the other porter get shoot to he chest,” the man relayed.
The man said he was told that his brother had died before being pulled from the truck and upon his arrival at the hospital he was informed of his death. He further stated that Khan was at the time taking money down to the farm in the backlands of Busby Dam.
Later at the GPH, the injured porter’s father, Allwyn Marcus, told Stabroek News that relatives are awaiting further word from the doctors and that they have only been briefed by the police.
The police issued the following press release this morning on the murder/robbery:
PRESS RELEASE
The police are investigating the murder committed on Aga Khan, 56 years, of 20 Grove Public Road, EBD, which occurred at about 1755h. yesterday Tuesday November 06, 2012, at Buzz Bee Dam, Craig, EBD. Khan was attacked by four men, one of whom was armed with a handgun and others with knives.
Investigations revealed that Aga Khan, was driving motor lorry GJJ 2806 owned by Edun Poultry Farm, east along Buzz Bee Dam, when the men walked into the path of the vehicle causing the driver to stop. One of the men then approached Khan and demanded cash. He was shot to his neck in the process.
One of the suspects then approached Marvin Marcus who was in the cab with Ken Ross, 18 years, of Brickery Road, Craig, EBD. Marcus was shot to his shoulder before handing over $700,000.00 to the men who then escaped.
Aga Khan and Marvin Marcus were taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, where Khan was pronounced DOA, while Marcus was referred to the GPHC, where he was admitted in a serious condition.
One man is in police custody assisting with the investigations.
